


Darkly

by Anonymous



Category: Oblivion (2013)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-18
Updated: 2021-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-27 20:06:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30128127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Sometimes Technicians get hurt. Sometimes the risks of the job don't end when the job does.
Relationships: Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Collections: Worldbuilding Exchange 2021





	Darkly

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ThisPolarNoise](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThisPolarNoise/gifts).



It's not the first time they've been attacked. It was easy to fly under the radar back when it was just five of them - then six - seven. Somewhere along the line, it got harder. Shit, even Fluffy isn't much good at stealth, even though he might've made her a little too anxious, a little too eager to warn him about suspicious leaves and branches she sees as potential threats, a little too likely to hesitate before using her new non-lethal weapons to stun the Scavs who come after them.

18 remembers the other times, clear as day. The first, on the border of Zone 13, headed off at the pass when 13 grabbed Morrison and froze, seconds before she wandered into the Scavs' rifle sights. The next, when Vika 19 had to be held back from trying to retaliate with just her fists, 13 and himself gently coaxing her to stay hidden and let Fluffy warn them away, to let it go. The time their attackers targeted 49, the slowest of the group, and 21 threw himself in the line of fire in his stead. The last time, the worst, when the Scavs were an organized group out to kill them rather than injure; finding shelter in an old shopping mall, and finding Jack 24 curled up underneath a dusty clothing rack, hurt and feverish and so, so grateful to find other people who could sign to him instead of expecting him to read their lips. 

18 thinks of the other times, even as 68 bleeds out under his hands.

They'd been having a calm few days. 

-

Technician 13 wakes up. Morrison is licking his face again, which is adorable but gets very old very fast because who knew kittens' tongues were so rough? And also the sun is shining right into his face, somehow getting right past the giant tree he's been sleeping under. How does that even work?

Vika's back at the tower, trying to make contact with Sally, trying to keep some kind of hope alive. Jack's not sure this is that simple. Things are kind of easier for him without the drones, without a constant read on his location. He's adopted a cat, for instance. She's small and fluffy and all alone - well, not alone any more, she's his, and he's got to get her to stop licking his cheek to wake him up in the morning, because ow.

Truth is, he's out exploring the world. He's done some of that in his two years as a drone tech, and now all he wants is more. There may be no one else in it except the other techs, but even they have to be somewhere, and he's going to find at least one of them before he heads back home.

-

Technician 18 wakes up.

He blinks at the wall of the drone repair bay for a solid minute before he remembers that's where he is.

So, he's been asleep on the floor, among a whole bunch of tools, and his neck is kinda stiff from sleeping weird. When he sits up, he cracks his head against 109, who whirs in dismay.

\- Wait, she whirs in dismay. Which means he somehow managed to get her active last night. Not that he remembers how, exactly; he's been in an engineering haze for the better part of two days, which would also help explain why his head hurts.

Anyway, he has a drone online - the only one since the explosion. Now to get her weapons down to non-lethal stun force, or possibly scrap them entirely.

He thinks he's going to call her Fluffy.

Technician 68 wakes up. He wanders down to the abandoned pool where Phil the toad is waiting to hop up on his shoulder. He wanders back upstairs, with Phil the toad. 

He's been thinking, for a while, of setting out alone. Vika's been acting strangely ever since Sally got shot down, and she won't agree to come along, or even listen to him at all. If he finds something out there to prove his theory, he'll come back and tell her; if he doesn't, he'll...probably find a new theory, that's how these things go. As it is, he's convinced that Sally was a robot, and so are they. Androids - well, not dreaming-of-electric-sheep style androids, not exactly, though wouldn't that be cool. He's a little unnerved by the thought of having an off switch, and he's still trying to figure out how the fact that they need to eat and sleep fits in with the whole robot thing, but he'll get there.

He's pretty sure Phil the toad is real, though. So the Rosen Corporation can suck it.

-

Technician 36 wakes up. 

Well, Vika's Technician 36, he guesses, but habits sometimes die hard. She's left him a note this morning, telling him where on the map she'll be; it's been harder to look out for her since the Tet and the drones all crashed at once. She knows it's especially difficult on days like this.

Jack's no stranger to pain, since the accident. It's been nearly three years, and while he's stable on the whole, there are still days when he wakes in tears or drenched in sweat, barely able to move. He thinks he can make it to the wheelchair, today, if he just sleeps a little longer. 

Vika's left him a hoodie and a book, too, bless her. He hopes she finds herself something nice today. He hopes she'll meet someone nice one of these days on one of her explorations; someone who loves their home planet like she does, or can learn. 

God, he hopes he feels well enough in a while to get up and make some coffee.

-

Technician 49 wakes up. For a moment of lucidity, he wonders when the last time was that he fell asleep expecting to wake up again.

He still hurts too much to arrive at an answer.

He's been cold, too, for what feels like forever. He tries to draw the blanket closer around him, but moving his right leg sends him into shivers of pain, his hands falling back to his sides as he swallows a sob, trying vainly to be quiet. He can't alert Vika, he can't - only then he remembers that Vika's dead, that Julia's real and has a voice and a truth of her own, that Commander Harper, too, is dead, and he bears his name but not his rank, not his songs, not his soul.

There's movement in the corner of the room, and Jack would try to reach for a weapon, or turn his head to look, if he weren't in tears of pain again from the simple act of opening his eyes. A figure looms above him, almost hesitant; then a second blanket settles over him, and the stranger draws both covers up to his shoulders. He shuts his eyes when a hand strokes through his hair, gently cups the side of his head, and opens them again when the voice that whispers to him is his own.

"It's okay," 21 says softly. "I'm - I'm sorry that you're hurting. Listen, I don't know what's going on, but I think you do, and - god, you're here, you're safe. You're going to be fine, Jack, I promise. It's okay."


End file.
